John McHugh, the new Army Secretary

President Obama has picked a new Secretary of the Army, Republican Congressman John McHugh;

Obama said that Rep. John McHugh, who has represented upstate New York, is committed to keeping America’s Army “the best trained, the best equipped, the best land force the world has ever seen.”

The president said that in his new job, McHugh will make sure the country’s troops can handle the new kinds of combat in the 21st century, including nonconventional warfare. McHugh has been a key member of the House Armed Services Committee.

I know a little something about McHugh, since he was my Congressman for several years in Upstate New York while I was both active duty and retired. His district included Fort Drum which he took very good care of while he served that area. He covered for them every time the base came up for dismantling. However his interest was more in the counties he served. Fort Drum was a boon to the area and rescued a wavering economy.

There is no military hospital to serve the ten thousand troops stationed at Drum – they’re forced to use a civilian facility in downtown Watertown, so Army dollars pay for a facility that civilians use. Military housing is spread out across two counties in order to spread the Army pay checks around to the smaller communities. Anyone who has tried to navigate that area in the winter knows what a stupid idea that was. They get an average of about 120 inches of snow every year. Some soldiers spend more than an hour on the Army’s Blue Bird buses each way to work.

I’m not saying this is all McHugh’s fault, but he spent all of his time trying to keep Drum open and didn’t have an opportunity to take care of the troops and rectify those shortcomings. He ended up maintaining the status quo.

He was probably the most conservative member of the New York caucus and he was a stalwart supporter of the military, and he’s probably a better choice than anyone else Obama could’ve picked, but he bears watching.

Some of this may have changed since I left the area a few years back, but knowing the area like I do, I doubt much has changed.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Support the troops